Advantages

"Cater For Lots Of Animals"

"Online Exclusives"

"Huge Range"

Disadvantages

"Website Looks Confusing"

"Product Information Can Be Limited"

"Pricier Than Other Brands"

Online Exclusives For Your Pets!

As an owner of pet dogs I quite often need supplies that I can only get from a specialist pet store. I have a Pets At Home store located near me but their website is also an attractive choice because the company sell products that are exclusively available online. These exclusive products are one of the reasons I shop online here, as well as the fact that it's convenient to shop from home.

I find the Pets At Home website a little bit crowded and jumbled in terms of it's design. They have a main menu on their homepage where you can search for products depending on the type of pet you have. You can then narrow down the search to specific items. You can also search directly in the search box provided.

When the results are shown the pictures of the products is what is most prominent rather than the information about it. You have to click into an individual item page to find out full details. Even then the details given about certain items can be quite vague. Whilst this isn't as important for some things like pet toys it can be essential when buying medical supplies.

I most recently, for example, needed to shop for some dental care products for one of my dogs. I basically needed a toothpaste, some anti-plaque treatment and some oral hygiene spray or gel but I found it quite difficult to distinguish between products and to understand what their benefits were from the information given on the site. I think a website overhaul would be a good idea to make it more user friendly and to inform customers as much as possible about what they are buying.

As well as the online exclusives you'll find a huge range that is also seen in their stores. So they cater for many pets including dogs, cats, small animals, reptiles, fish, horses and birds. Their range is huge but their prices are not always as cheap as other outlets.

The site now accepts Paypal payments as well as credit and debit cards. I tend to use Paypal and I find the checkout service to be really easy to complete. My deliveries have arrived in an acceptable time and well packaged. I'd definitely shop at this website again as it does supply a lot of items I can't get elsewhere. I would recommend the site to other pet owners and particularly to pet owners looking for something specific that they have been unable to get elsewhere.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

Pets At Home - Online!!

Having lots of animals I like having a look through various animal related websites to have a look at any new items I can find. It is also useful to look at animal related websites as quite often they have lots of useful information regarding various pets which is always useful to read.

This is where I came across www.petsathome.co.uk which is the online version of the shop Pet's At Home.About The Website

The website is well laid out, with the main colour of the site being green which continues with the green theme used in the stores. The layout of the site is not too flamboyant and if anything looks a bit boring as it is done in a very simple manner but to be honest, in some ways I prefer this as it means that it is so easy to find your way around.

This is an excellent website for any animal lover. One thing I really like about this site is that it doesn't specialise in one type of animals and actually caters for dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, rodents such as hamsters, gerbils and rats, fish and finally they are meant to be introducing a range for reptiles which should be coming soon. So as you can see, they pretty much cater for anything, fluffy, feathery or scaly, there is something for everyone.

Anyone is welcome to browse the website but if you actually want to buy something then you will need to register with them first.

Features On The Website

SearchThere is a search option on the left hand side of the main page. This is a great tool to use if you know what you are looking for, just type it in here and you will be forwarded t the page that contains what you are looking for.

Sub HeadingsThere are five main sub heading on the main page which are cat, dog, aquatics, bird and small mammals. When you click on each tab, you are taken to another section of the site. For example, if you click on dog, you are then taken through to the dog section where you are shown a variety of products for dogs such as treats, toys and flea treatments among other things. This is the same for each category, you are taken through to the relevant section where it is relatively easy to find what you are looking for by browsing through their pages.

Store FinderOn the main page, you will find a Store Finder section which is very easy to use. There are Pets At Home stores located all across the country and to find the store nearest to you, you just type in your postal code and it will list all the stores nearest to you.

Store EventsThere is a store events section which is one of my favourite sections of the site. This consists of an area where you can find out about any special promotions or days that are being held at the various Pet's At Home Stores. For example, by looking at this website, I have found the following events being held at my local Pet's At Home: Dog Photography and Dog Dayz. These events basically mean that you can turn up to the store and have your pet photographed (obviously you have to pay for this) and the Dog Dayz is where they have professional trainers in store who will give you any advise you may need about your animals.

Other store events they do are quite simple things like having a small table set up just outside the store in which a charity sits and you are asked if you would like to sign up. Myself and my boyfriend were asked when we were walking into our local shop last year and normally it really annoys me when we are asked to give to charity but the women was so nice and friendly and didn't push at all. In the end we signed up because it was for the 'Kent Wildlife Trust' and I like to support local charities and it was all about helping Kent's Wildlife and to top it off, only cost £15 a year so we could hardly complain at that. The Store Finder section also gives you information about which charities attend which stores so if you have an interest in a charity you can pop to your local store to ask the representatives any questions.

Care SectionThe Pet Care section provides care sheets for various animals. There is also a section that offers Vet advice. These pages are updated often and I always like to have a read through them as there is so much information which is useful to any pet owner. Also in this section there is a guide for new pet owners along with and tips and tricks - such as signs of a healthy pet, and choosing the right pet for you and your family.

Offers In StoreThis section details all the best offers that are currently on at Pet's At Home. I find it quite useful to browse through this section as quite often there are items that I might not have tried but would do because of the special offer. This means that my pets often get to try new items and I don't pay too much for the privilege.

Pet's At Home ClubYou can sign up to the Pet's At Home club either through their website, or quite often they have leaflets in store which provide you with details of how to sign up. The club is free to join and basically means that every month you get a Pet's At Home magazine along with a page of money off coupons which you can use in store or online when buying any of their products. I really do think this is a nice touch as it costs nothing to join the club and you get money off vouchers every month for doing so. When you have a zoo like me these vouchers really come in handy! I also like having a read through the magazine as there are always some interesting articles in there.

SummaryI would definitely recommend that any animal lover visit this site. It is a great way of getting tips and any advice you may need for your animal. That's something that I really like about this site, it isn't all about trying to sell you stuff, the actually provide you with practical tips etc.There is a wide range of items to buy, and a great selection for each and every animal. I enquired in store about a reptile range and was informed about a month ago that they were currently trying to introduce a reptile range which will be interesting for me but currently they have nothing for reptiles which is a bit of a downside. The other downside is that delivery charges are quite expensive - £3.95. Personally, I use the site more as a point to look for information and items in store and then I drive to my local store which isn't too far away rather than paying the delivery fee.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

hhmmmm?

I shop instore with pets at home all the time. We have 4 dogs, 2 frogs and turtle so we buy quite a lot of pet products.

Having shopped in store with them, naturally when pets at home launched their website a couple of years ago, I had a good look through their website to see what they sold.

I have to say that their website has improved a lot over the last few years. They didn't use to do internet shopping through their website. It was just for information really. I think it must be about 3 or 4 years ago now that they re-launched the website and started to offer their customers online shopping.

Since then I have only placed two orders with them. The main reason for only placing the 2 orders is because I have 2 pets at home stores very near to my home and so don't like to pay delivery when I can easily pop in on my way home. Usually delivery is free if you spend over £50, they have had a lot of promotions for free delivery recently but it's still easier to go to the shop.

Of my 2 experiences of shopping online with pets at home I had one very good and easy, and the other terrible. I'll start with the bad.

The first time I shopped online with pets at home was about 2 summers ago. they had a brochure with a pet wardrobe in it, so that you could keep all of your pets Tshirts and dresses together. I had a lot of dog T shirts as my dog gets very cold in the winter and shivers and thought this would be a really cute little way of keeping them all together. At £29.99 I though it was a great price as I had seen some in Harrods for hundreds of pounds. I told my mum about it and she also wanted one so we went to buy 2 in our local store.

When ended up visiting about 4 different stores and couldn't even get 1 let alone 2. So I suggested thatI order them online and we could even save 10% as they had a promotional code for first time internet customers.

I ordered them and got the 10% discount and was told they would take between 3 and 5 working days to arrive.

I waited. And I waited. Nothing came. I checked my online account which said the order had been cancelled. I hadn't cancelled it and I hadn't been contacted about it so I phoned them. I was told that they were out of stock adn wouldn't be getting anymore in. I asked if they could tell me if they had any stock in any of the stores and was told that they were limited edition and that they were completely sold out.

I was very unhappy with pets at home. Could they not have sent a simple letter or email or phoned me to let me know. Instead I had to contact them and I think this is very poor customer service.

About 2 weeks later my mum and I were out shopping in Romford and on the way home we popped into a pets at home that we don't usually visit. I couldn't believe it. There sitting on the shelf were 2 pet wardrobes! We literally grabbed them and ran (to the tills, were not thieves!).

Since then I have seen them pop up at 2 other stores and once saw them reduced to clear about 6 months ago. I am not very impressed with pets at home and how we were treated and deicded not to use them again.

However, a couple of weeks ago my dog started to have trouble getting on and off of my bed at night. She would jump off and then stratch my arm and bark untill I would pick her up and lift her back onto the bed. After a week of this I was not very happy and very, very tired as it was happening about 3 or 4 times most nights.

I had heard about pet steps before and thought they might be a good idea for her. I looked everywhere but they were either really expensive for the solid ones or out of stock. Then, when searching online I found them on the pets at home website. I didn't really want to order from them again but they were internet only and I couldn't get them anywhere else at that price. I was so desperate for a good nights sleep that I ordered them.

This order could not have been more different from the other. I ordered them on a Sunday morning and they were here by Tuesday afternoon! There was no problem and they were perfect. I don't know if they have changed their system but it was certainly a lot better this time.

Having ordered from them twice and having such different experiences I really don't know what to think about their service. I like to think that they are better now and perhaps learnt better ways from the past.

I would order from them again, but with caution. I am warding them 3 out of 5 as a middle mark. This is the only fair rating I feel I can give after my experiences with them.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

not bad

The pets at home website is ok, but they should include all of the cages, only some of them are featured and it is rather frustrating, I was looking for a rat cage, and couldnt find one on their website, but i found the perfect one instore that wasn't featured online, But it is not a bad website, but i suggest you look instore before buying online as there might be a better product instore. Also the website shows some product that are not available instore, but can only be bought onlne, for me this is a problem because i don't buy things online, i look online to find what i want, then go to the shop and buy it. However, overall it is a good website for people who only buy online, unlike myself. It is unfortunate that they dont feature all of the cages online, good site overall

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

i own 3 cats and fish. although pets at home provide fantastic ranges for cats dogs etc there live stock is not cared for at all. i bought numerous fish from pets at home. not only have they died but they have passed disease on to my already established fish and also killed them. the help you recieve from staff is shocking and they dont no what they are doing. i also had a friend who bought a 6 week old rabbit from them and was told that it would be fine to put straight into an outside hutch, needless to say the next morning the rabbit was dead. the vet told her that taking a baby rabbit from the warmth of a shop it has known since birth to a hutch will kill it. PAH need some serious livestock lessons its plain cruelty.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

it is a shop, not capable or responsible for teaching pet care

I have worked in the past in a pets at home store, and they did try to pass on basic knowledge of pet care, but frankly the information on the whole is wrong, and the pay is so bad that the information that is right is not remebered by many staff as they just dont care.

On the otherhand you dont go to Tesco and expect to be taught to cook the food, if you are getting a pet then you should take time before hand to learn all you can about them for yourself rather than expect a person on basic wage to teach you.

You definately shouldnt go into a Pet Store to buy a male rat to breed with your female rat, you should go to a breeder who can give you the health history of the rats family, and shouldnt be breeding at all when your knowledge is so basic that you dont know rats are amongst easiest species to introduce to others, and two girls related or unrelated will get on fine in the vast vast majority of cases, and at worse will have a few tussels to sort out a pecking order

The choice available is generally great for cats and dogs, and even rabbits, though they do offer little to no choice for rodents food wise, its PaH own brand or nothing. When working there there were so many people who came in having brought a kitten or even a puppy without any forethought that it is good that pet supermarkets exist as otherwise the pup wouldnt have even had a collar or food bowl

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

I don't rate them very well at all, as others seem to aggree the staff do not seem very experienced as regards the pets. I bought what was supposed to be a male rat to pair up with a female, only to find out it was female. On phoning the store was told there was nothing they could do, not even an appology. This is terrrible as you are not supposed to put two females together that have not been brought up together, and I couldn't return her to the shop as my son had already got very attached.I would not suggest to anyone buying a pet to go there, go to a smaller pet shop who care about there pets or even breed there own.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

GO TO A SMALLER PETSHOP THAT CARES

Pets at home is rubbish - I agree with another reviewer. My local branch often ha dead fish floating in the tanks and worse still half eaten ones. No I know enough about fish to realise they are Piscivores and do eat other fish - but it is not nice to see when you are there with little children. I have seen an unwell hamster who was lying onn its back breathing very rapidly and also a rat who was so desperately trying to get out or chew the metal enclosure that it had blood coming from his mouth.Ok so they sell cheap food and straw but so what when their livestock is so poor. I nearly bought a hamster omce but the boy was so inexperienced at handling them he dropped it onto the floor and it ran off !!!!!!Also there are sparrows flying around regularly pooping on everything - what a mess.DISGUSTING

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

I shop at Pets at home ,Lincoln(at the Carlton centre) to get my tortoise food.On numerous occasions I have asked at the checkout if they sold calcium for tortoise .I don't know comes the usual reply , or sorry no.Well today , after years it seems, Sheri said yes we do and soon fetched me some .Well done SHERI ......

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

BAD ATTITUDE ALL ROUND AND DO NOT WISH FOR ANIMALS TO GO TO 'EXPERT HOMES'

Here is what I wrote to the RSPCA:

Hi, I have a concern about animals, and in my experience Guinea Pigs in the Bradford Pets at Home store. Here is my story: I spotted a guinea pig- (being myself and my family, pet guinea pig owners for many years and also currently doing Rodentology courses), who was very ill. I informed the store assitant immediately. The young assistant agreed and said he "Didn't look too peachy". I told them he looked like he had had his ribs broken by the large sized rabbit who had also been keps in the same enclosure as these small baby guinea pigs and also then an infection set in.

The assistant asked the manager, (who I know from being interviewed from her but once, but I saw conditions guinea pigs were kept in, such as bad bedding for their lungs and mixed with rabbits, poor quality food which is brown pellets and no vitamin C and also her poor attitude, I was disgusted and told her I didn't want the job). and she said "Why? what's the matter with it" to the young assistant when she asked for him to be "put in the back", when clearly he was struggling for breath.

I could not stop thinking about this guinea and went back on Thursday (17th August) and was told the guinea was getting better and to return on Monday, when it may be available for me to purchase, as I expressed my wish then, that I wanted to own him.

I returned from a weekend away and called the shop today (21st August) as soon as I knew staff would be in the store. I was told it may have been sold to someone! The manager said "oh I don't know anything about it" and passed me onto the original assistant I told about the ill animal.

I was told even due to my experience with the aminal that they would not 'reserve' the animal and they would put it in the shop and I would then have to take-'pot luck' whether it had been sold before anyone else may have had the chance to buy it- not knowing it's health backgrounds and perhaps not handling it correctly for the type of injury it had recieved.

I am very upset and angry by this and feel they should be more caring rather than a profit- only organisation and I feel you have the right to know they don't care and have a poor attitude; nor wish to pass onto experts their ill creatures and would rather just anyone came along and purchased these animals as soon as possible, as long as it is sold.

Also, my closest friend is an expert on various marine life and enjoys tropical fish, she purchased a quantity of fish from there and every one of those fish had finrot and had not received proper care in the time they were in shop, she battled to keep them alive but most died and when she returned to discuss the care of the fish they told her "Fish die!" and were not even sympathetic

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

We love this shop and online website -Wow it is like pet heaven when you enter.....all the smells and toys in there are amazing...my mummy takes me there in the car and i always know when we are there as i can smell it...it is such a lovely friendly shop where the assistants all fuss you and give you chews for being such a good boy. my mummy takes me there to choose the toys - she picks me up so i can get a look at which ones i want for my two brothers - it is so nice that i get to choose them! Then we move on to the book section and have a look at the books - some times we look at the shampoos and things and mummy buys nice shampoos for us - none of this stuff that is tested on animals! overall i think this has to be my favourite place after the park that is!

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

This is a wonderful website for pampering your pooch, or caring for your cat! If you love your animal, then this is the site to visit! Not only do they cater for dogs and cats, ou can also choose from birds, fish and small animals like guineapigs and hamsters. There is a 'pet care' section, where you can find useful information on all your pets care and health. There is a guide for new pet owners, vetenary advice, and tips and tricks - such as signs of a healthy pet, and choosing the right pet etc. Under 'fun' there are games to play. Find out about fun days out, and TV programmes where you can view clips. Read all about Snatch and all his friends. Here, you can download wallpaper and screensaver, and print out a picture to colour in. There is a community section where you can have your say, FAQ's and fun places to visit and relax. And if your pet is single, (like mine is!), then place an advertisement for your pet in the dating section for them to find a friend or relationship! For example, here's one from the site:- "Slim, Siamese good-looking cat, GSOH, looking for the purrrrfect match". There are 'Pets at Home' stores all around the Country from Plymouth to Aberdeen, under 'Corporate'. To find a particular store need you, just type in your postal code and house number, and it will list all the stores nearest to you. Or just browse around all the stores. To use the shop online, you first need to register with them. There is a whole range of different products and treats to choose fronm for all your pets. The categories to look round are:- ~ Dogs ~ Cats ~ Fish ~ Small animals ~ Birds ~ Books, video's & CD's ~ Giftwear It also gives you that week's 'specials', ie, a little bag of dog biscuits for £1.49. It's a brilliant site to visit, and I love going there! It 39;s really helped me a lot in looking after my dog in the best way, and there's loads of tips and helpful hints for you which are easy to understand.